National News

With the government shutdown, certain tasks and chores aren't getting done. Mowing the lawn around the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for example, seems to be one of them.

Enter South Carolina resident Chris Cox. He's not employed by the National Parks Service, but that didn't stop Cox from doing what he could to help keep the land around the Lincoln Memorial looking as nice as possible for this weekend's Million Vet March.

Cox spoke on camera with staff from the office of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and called himself the "first member of the Memorial Militia group."

He said he's trying to encourage Americans to go out and "help fortify the boundaries of our national monuments or memorials." Cox said that with the shutdown, the memorials are "vulnerable to vandals and wackos," and he'd like to encourage people to find a memorial and "bring a trash bag and a rake."

At first, park police appeared to be OK with Cox's mission, according to CBS News Washington. But the police later asked him to leave. Cox, reportedly, complied.